Don't Tell
by Laugh After Pain
Summary: Kaoru and Haruhi have a heart-to-heart in the library. TamaKao, HikaHaru


"Is it hard to fall in love?" Haruhi mused aloud one day, sitting with Kaoru in the library, reference books piled on the table between them.

"No," Kaoru said gently, not even looking up from his homework. Haruhi started.

"I was just talking to myself," she said, feeling herself blushing.

"I know," Kaoru said, finally lifting his head to look at her, his striking, amber eyes peering out from beneath a shock of red hair. Despite his gentle nature, Kaoru (and his twin brother, Hikaru) had one of the edgiest looks in the school, as far as Haruhi could tell. So many students blended into one another, but the Hitachiin brothers demanded to be the center of attention. "I figured I'd offer my input, since you'd just end up over-analyzing it." It was true. She couldn't deny it. "Why do you ask, anyway?"

"In every play we've read this year, the heroines fall in love at the drop of a hat, and the heroes meet girls they immediately know are their future brides. It seems so...unreal."

"It's not," Kaoru said with a smile. "It's easy to fall in love. A smile or touch is sometimes all it takes." His amber eyes were soft, his smile warmer than usual. Haruhi looked at him for a long moment.

"You're in love," she said bluntly. It wasn't mean or taunting, just a statement, as if commenting on the weather. Kaoru looked at her, eyes wide, face flooded with a deep blush. "Oh, Kaoru, I think it's cute," she said. He shifted uncomfortably. "Kaoru?"

"Sorry, it's just not something I like to talk about," he said with a lopsided smile.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"I'm just a little embarrassed," he replied easily, though she noticed him tensing a bit. "It's a very...unrequited love."

"Does Hikaru know?" Haruhi asked delicately, having an instinctive feeling that a part of Kaoru really did want to talk about this with someone. Kaoru shook his head in response to her question.

"Don't tell," he said, putting a finger to his lips.

"I would never," she promised solemnly.

"...Yeah, I know," he said. "What about you, Haruhi? Someone special?" Haruhi started.

"Why do you ask?" she asked warily. He smiled.

"So there _is_ someone."

"I never said that."

"Oh, you said it," Kaoru corrected. "You just didn't say it with words."

Haruhi sighed at his cryptic answer and returned to her textbook, and Kaoru soon followed her lead. She grew accustomed to the scratching of his pencil against crisp notebook paper and somehow found the sound therapeutic. It helped her to concentrate better on the character analysis paper for her English class. After a while, the scratching stopped. Haruhi's brow furrowed, her pen freezing as the oddly motivational sound ceased. She looked up, wondering if Kaoru had finished his homework, and saw his attention directed elsewhere.

Kaoru didn't notice her glance, but Haruhi saw the same softness in his eyes from when he'd spoken of love, and she couldn't help but let herself follow his gaze. Their friend and upperclassman, Tamaki Suoh, had just walked through the library doors. In a flash, Kaoru's anxiety made sense to Haruhi; an unrequited love – for another boy. It must have been hard for Kaoru. Haruhi knew what a compassionate person he really was, and even Haruhi, who could admit her own oblivious nature, couldn't mistake the love in his eyes.

Tamaki, however, could be a real blockhead.

Still, the idea that Kaoru was in love with him was altogether too cute, even for Haruhi, the anything-but-stereotypical girl, and she wished for the feelings to be returned. Kaoru never asked for anything for himself.

She turned back to Kaoru, who had returned to his homework, his bangs covering his face. His fingers were trembling and gripping his pen hard. Haruhi smiled, wondering how she couldn't have noticed Kaoru's lovesickness before. Tamaki, having spoken to the librarian, walked to the other side of the library, not seeming to have noticed them.

"Do you like Tamaki?" Kaoru blurted out, and Haruhi turned to him, but he was still looking down at his work. Haruhi fleetingly wondered if Kaoru had seen her looking at Tamaki and had misinterpreted.

"No, we're just friends," she said. Kaoru relaxed.

It was at that moment that Hikaru burst into the library in his gym clothes. A few girls squealed. Hikaru ignored them and looked around, finding Kaoru and Haruhi and grinning as he bound up to them.

"Hey, it's really nice out!" he cried. "Quit being cooped up in this stuffy library! Come outside!" The librarian glared pointedly at him. Kaoru denied the invitation, saying he had to finish his paper, then looked over at Haruhi, expecting a similar response.

"Okay, sure," she replied, collecting her books and standing. Hikaru beamed, turning to Kaoru, who started at Haruhi's unusual response. She looked back at him, then smiled and fleeting put a finger to her lips.

_Don't tell._

Kaoru grinned as Hikaru and Haruhi left the library, then turned his gaze to the opposite wall of the library, past shelves upon shelves of books.

Blue-violet eyes smiled back at him.


End file.
